Thursday, May 5, 2011

In The Merry Month of May

May is a very busy month for the LA 3-D Club. On May 14th and 15th we will be presenting the 8th Annual LA 3-D Movie Festival. This year’s festival promises to be an amazing event. We’ve received some fantastic 3-D films from all over the world, which will be shown in two blocks on Saturday afternoon. These films will be competing for some great prizes, including copies of Sony Vegas Pro 10 editing software, a camera rig and training course from 3-D FIlm Factory, and, of course, the coveted LA 3-D Club Ro-Man trophy. We are very pleased to have Chuck Comisky, 3-D Stereo VFX Supervisor of Avatar, as our special guest speaker. Mr. Comisky will also be sitting on our competition jury, along with our other esteemed judges, Buzz Hays, senior vice president of the 3D Technology Center at Sony, and David Wilson, founder of the Museum of Jurassic Technology. The program will also include a 3-D feature film on Saturday night, a free showcase of student produced 3-D films and free equipment demonstrations on Sunday afternoon, and an awards ceremony screening and reception on Sunday evening. Passes to the festival are $30, and SCSC members can get a $10 discount by using the password “Holmes” when purchasing. For more up to the minute information about the festival, and to purchase passes and merchandise, visit the website LA3DFest.com

At our general meeting on May 19th, we’ll be holding the final photography competition of the 2010-11 member year, we will also be hosting the last International Stereo Club Competition (ISCC) of the season. The ISCC is a competiton open to an international roster of Photographic Society of America stereo division member clubs, and includes the best images from each organization. The images at the May meeting should look fantastic thanks to a brand new screen, which was generously donated to the club by Mr. Benoit Mailloux, President of Strong/MDI, a leading manufacturer of cinema screens. We’re thrilled to have such a high quality silver screen to use at our meetings.

May 20 and 21st, the club will be in San Mateo, CA, for the Bay Area Maker Faire - the world’s largest festival of DIY. Art, craft, science and technology are all represented at Maker Faire - there’s everything from flame-throwing robots and cupcake cars, to musical tesla coils. Once again, the club will be curating a 3-D Village area, which will feature an LA 3-D Club booth where members will be demonstrating stereo photography and video techniques, and showing their work. Other exhibits will include Barry Rothstein’s phantograms, my own 3-DIY camera rigs and displays, and a bunch of other participating exhibitors with interesting 3-D related inventions. It’s an incredible event, and my words don’t really do it justice. I would encourage everyone to make the pilgrimage to San Francisco that weekend to attend - you won’t regret it. Information is online at makerfaire.com

A very busy month indeed. And, as always, you can get the latest information on 3-D events and the club’s activities at our website LA3DClub.com